Somnath hopeful of good score by Left Front

Kolkata, March 30 (IANS) Old loyalties die hard. Despite being expelled from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee hopes West Bengal’s ruling Left Front will repeat in the coming general elections its good showing of five years back. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme here, Chatterjee said the CPI-M-led LF tally would not go down this time.

Asked if the ruling Left Front will lose any seats in the elections, he said: “I don’t think such a strange thing will happen this time.”

The LF had bagged 35 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats from the state in 2004. The opposition Congress got six, while the Trinamool claimed one.

He said the government, which would come to power at the centre, must look into the interests of common people and take up pro-people policies for the bettering the lot of the masses.

Talking about the newly formed third alliance, Chatterjee said: “The Third Front has just been constituted. It’ll depend on the response from the common people of India, on whether they support it or not.”